Wednesday, March 30, 2016

We
established a subcohort of HIV-positive individuals from 10 sexual health
clinics within the Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD). The aim of
this study was to assess demographic and other factors that might be associated
with an incident sexually transmitted infection (STI).

METHODS:

The
cohort follow-up was from March 2010 to March 2013, and included patients
screened at least once for an STI. We used survival methods to determine time
to first new and confirmed incident STI infection (chlamydia, gonorrhoea,
syphilis or genital warts). Factors evaluated included sex, age, mode of HIV
exposure, year of AHOD enrolment, hepatitis B or C coinfection, time-updated
CD4 cell count, time-updated HIV RNA viral load, and prior STI diagnosis.

RESULTS:

There
were 110 first incident STI diagnoses observed over 1015 person-years of
follow-up, a crude rate of 10.8 per 100
person-years. Factors independently associated with increased risk of incident
STI included younger age [≥ 50 vs. 30-39 years old]; prior STI infection, and heterosexual vs. men who have sex with men (MSM) as
the likely route of exposure.

CONCLUSIONS:

In
this cohort of individuals being treated with antiretroviral drugs, those who
were MSM, who were 30-39 years old, and who had a prior history of STI, were at
highest risk of a further STI diagnosis.